Second Officer

[SEV]

Hi Folks!
Anybody could explain me the exactly definition and function of Second Officer??
An international airliner had called me for a recruitment process as Second Officer.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers!

[gainanduru]

you'll be serving tea and cofee in the cockpit mate!!!!
:ok:

[Avman]

Courtesy of Google and Wikipedia:

A Second Officer usually refers to the third in the line of command for a flight crew on a commercial or non-military aircraft. Usually the Second Officer is a flight engineer who is also a licensed pilot. A Second Officer on some airlines is part of a relief crew. Rarely, such relief pilots are called Third Officer. The title most likely derives from the nautical title indicating a third in command officer.

[llanfairpg]

Just remember in some airlines, you are a Second Officer until you reach a a certain number of hours - or sometimes years in the company - it could be essentially a First Officer...

Just remember in some airlines, you are a Second Officer until you reach retirement regardless of your rank.

[BelArgUSA]

Second Officer, name, title or functions vary with different airlines.
xxx
Generally, if a crew of 3 pilots, it will be the most junior pilot. The order will be (1) Captain, (2) First Officer. (3) Second Officer. There is no official definition for the title... nor an assigned number of stripes on uniforms.
xxx
Might be 5 stripes and two stars...
The higher the title, and number of stripes, the lower the salary...
xxx
:)
Happy contrails

[SEV]

Hi folks!
What´s the meaning of Second Officer??

Happy new year!!
All the best!

[A Very Civil Pilot]

Depends on the airline. It is often a pilot who has a frozen atpl. Once he gets a full atpl, he becomes a first officer.

In long-haul, it might mean a cruise relief pilot as well.

[thesilversurfer]

they sit in the jumpseat like a stick-insect and blink at the instruments.....hope that helps :ok:

[SEV]

Thank´s for your replies, i think that a "very civil pilot" said the true.In my case is an airline which has A320 and i have a frozen atpl. It isn´t for long haul so i hope you are right.
Cheers!
More comments would be appreciated.

[portsharbourflyer]

Is this for the Qatar airways Second Officer Scheme by any chance?

[SEV]

No, I,m sorry.
Cheers.

[Otterman]

Most replies here aren't very useful. At my airline the second officer is a new hire. He serves as a relief pilot, able to occupy either seat. Under normal conditions he can only occupy this seat above 20,000 feet. Under abnormal conditions they are trained up to the point that a seat change can occur. Or in case of incapacitation up to landing as pilot monitoring. Their training and checking reflect these limitations. Usually they do this around 2-3 years, before moving on to the european fleet as first officers. They wear 2 stripes.
I am sure that the function differs per airline, but this is how it works at mine.
Greetings O.

[BelArgUSA]

Answers not very useful... Correct fact...
I mentioned that all airlines have a different way to define a Second Officer.
So, is it useful or not...?
xxx
It appears to me, that generally, with most airlines, it is a "junior" co-pilot.
Looking at what was done with some airlines - in the Hue-ess-hey...
United Airlines (UAL) called their new hires S/O Second Officers.
These were new hires, who were assigned Flight Engineer positions.
And they nicknamed the "3rd crewmember" as "GIB" (guy in back) in the 737.
That is when they had 3 crewmembers to fly a 737-200...
Same applied to Western Airlines (WAL) who also used 3 pilots for 737.
xxx
With PanAm... I got hired as Flight Engineer (on 727, later on 707).
My position was then F/E - Flight Engineer. Licence minimum: CPL + FE...
I had 3 regular stripes as such.
The Professional Flight Engineers (PF/Es) we had, were NOT pilots.
They had 2 regular stripes. Licence: FE + A&P "Mechanic" (FAA Gnd Engineer)
Then I qualified as 3rd pilot on 707, my title became First Officer.
Yet my function was "IRO" - International Relief Officer.
I sat in one of the pilot seats on long flights. Communications and charts.
At times, we played "musical chair", I recall sitting as F/E, or pilot...
xxx
And recall, we also had Navigators, until about 1975/76 in the 707.
I even used to get them to teach me the basics of sextants and Loran-A...
I recall counting the "beeps" on "Consols"... Stavanger and Quimper.
Even tuning BBC Droitwich on LW 198mHz for a LOP with the ADF.
You "geeks" and your GPS make me laugh. You know nothing about real "NAV"
xxx
What I gather, nowadays, a Second Officer, is a JUNIOR co-pilot.
I hope this is somewhat "useful"...
And again, every airline does it differently.
xxx
:)
Hàppy contrails

[Cavallier]

In the airline I work for it is a nasty way of paying someone less who does the same job as an F/O! Trust me I was one for a year.
The Cav:ok:

[parabellum]

In the airlines I have worked for a Second Officer, (one bar or ring), is still under training and only fly with training captains, when with a training captain he will get to land the 'plane occasionally.
Bear in mind that this young chap has recently completed initial flying training and has no more than 250 hours to his name, most of which is on very light aircraft.
The idea is to continue the training, accustom them to large jet aircraft, (possibly via a Lear Jet phase in their post CPL course), in order that they can be released to line as a First Officer, (two bars), with a minimum of experience but sufficient to do the job.

Because the market let them do it Cathay Pacific have been employing very well qualified pilots as SOs whilst they learnt the CX way of doing things but in the majority of airlines that employ SOs it is a very recently released from initial training kind of thing, with a natural upgrade to FO as and when progressive checks are passed.

[SEV]

The airline which called me was vueling (spanish airline).In my case I,m 22 years old and I have just over 1000 hours in twin-turboprop medium airplane(turbine time ). I will have an interview/test with them in January.Anybody know the conditions of Second Officer in vueling???
Thanks!